The editorial boards of two of the most-circulated newspapers in the United States have issued their take on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s denunciation of Donald Trump, and the two reactions are sharply split.
On the one hand, the New York Times shrugged, and said the GOP is merely scrambling to fix a mess it created. On the other, the Washington Post praised Romney for coming out strong against the GOP front-runner.
Romney “was right to deliver his truth-telling message, and we hope others will join in,” said the Post’s editorial board.
The Times reacted differently, saying instead, “Holy Mitt, what a meltdown.”
“It took the Trump-dominated Super Tuesday contests to awaken Republican leaders to the fact that the darkest elements of the party’s base, which many of them have embraced or exploited, are now threatening their party,” they added.
Romney came out Friday against Trump and warned that nominating the billionaire businessman would be disastrous for the Republican Party and the United States.
“Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities. The bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics,” the former governor said in a blistering speech. “You know, we have long referred to him as ‘The Donald.’ He’s the only person in the entire country to whom we have added an article before his name, and it was not because he had attributes we admired.”
Romney, who courted Trump’s endorsement in 2012, added, “His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”
For the Post, these were some much-needed remarks.
“Mr. Romney offered a comprehensive, substantive and compelling case against the billionaire bloviator. Importantly, his critique went well beyond simply arguing that Mr. Trump is not a true conservative,” they wrote.
“Mr. Romney started by pointing out that Mr. Trump is not the ‘genius’ he makes himself out to be — in running a business or running the country,” they added.
The Times, however, was not impressed.
“After months of silence, Mr. Romney spent 20 minutes calling Mr. Trump a fraud and a phony with a record of business failures,” they wrote.
Romney’s criticism, they argued, is hypocritical.
“At one point, Mr. Romney said: ‘Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants’ — with absolutely no sense of self-awareness. Mr. Romney himself played to the worst kind of xenophobia when he proposed getting rid of 11 million undocumented immigrants by forcing them to ‘self-deport,'” they wrote.
“He also listed Mr. Trump’s offenses — ‘the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.’ Did Mr. Romney have any sense of irony when he said those words? For far too long, they could have been used to describe many in his party: legislators, congressional leadership, its policy makers,” they added,
The newspaper hammered home its point that the GOP has no one to blame for Trump but itself.
“It is an excellent thing that the Republican leaders have noticed the problem they’ve fostered, now embodied in the Trump candidacy. But until they see the need to alter the views and policies they have promoted for years, removing Mr. Trump will not end the party’s crisis,” the board wrote.
Trump has since responded to Romney’s denunciations by calling the former governor a “choke artist,” and reminding voters that the failed presidential candidate “begged” for an endorsement in 2012.
Romney, for his part, has responded by saying that if Trump supported the policies he touts today, he would not have sought his endorsement.
